C J Stevens' book details page

"His poems are serious, attentive gestures of care for other people or remembered experiences. He promises staying power." -- LIBRARY JOURNAL

"He can evoke another time and place with surprising immediacy and power." -- BOOKLIST

"His poems are fresh, richly imagined, and executed with economy and wit." -- MISSISSIPPI REVIEW

"One thing he does better than anyone else I know is incisive, sympathetic, moving portraits of persons outside of himself... He is a highly skilled craftsman, working with precision and accuracy." -- Ron Schreiber, MARGINS

"He has a penchant for catching the essence of a character from ordinary life, the very
ordinariness becoming a springboard for unique twists of imagery. He is able to pace his images with earthy conversational rhythms and season with a rueful wit." -- Barbara F. Lefcowits, POET LORE

"Page after page grab you where you live. He exhibits a sure mastery of style and subject." -- CANADIAN FORUM

"It is an engaging personality that speaks to us in these poems, a man whose sharp eyes pick out even the subtle differences a single line can make." -- Thomas Dillingham, OPEN PLACES

TRANSLATIONS:

POEMS FROM HOLLAND AND BELGIUM

The artist who paints with words and composes with metaphors has a limited following. When a poet's mother tongue sounds harsh and strange to all beyond a country's narrow borders, the rest of the world is impoverished.

C. J. Stevens has gathered the works of a group of Dutch and Flemish poets, all highly regarded in their native land, and has poignantly unveiled their powerful form and brilliant imagery. His translations effortlessly mirror the core and scope of the original work. As we open the pages we are amazed that such fine poets of a concurrent culture have been strangers to us. But no longer.

This volume contains a range of varied and talented voices. It is an invitation to discovery, delight and recognition. A book to keep at hand.

"This book is fascinating for the range of poets that it represents as well as for the amount of control the translator clearly has over his materials. Good translations such as these will endure." BOOKLIST

BIOGRAPHY by C.J. Stevens

The Miracle of Bryan Pearce
by C.J. Stevens

Bryan Pearce was born in 1929, an apparently healthy baby, but soon the parents became concerned: the child barely reacted to his surroundings and "just stared into space as if he wasn't there." An undiagnosed and rare congenital condition, phenylketonuria, was retarding his mental development. Mary and Walter Pearce did their best to give normalcy and meaning to their son's life--they would be faced with a similar tragedy after the birth of their daughter, Margaretta, in 1941. Bryan was sent to a school for the retarded when he was ten, and upon his return home six years later he worked for a time in his father's butcher shop scrubbing pots and pans. He did these chores meticulously and with some satisfaction, though it was a road to nowhere.

One day Mary brought home a child's coloring book and coaxed her twenty-four-year-old son to fill in a page of bold outlines with watercolors. He did the task beautifully, became interested, and this was the beginning of one of the most astonishing adventures in twentieth century painting.

Mary Pearce was herself a talented artist, but her priority lay in the enrichment and elevation of her children's lives and the promotion of Bryan's gift. When doctors gave her son no chance of living a productive life, she refused to accept their opinions as final. Her struggle to do what she felt was best for her son produced the miracle of Bryan Pearce.

Today, Bryan's paintings are displayed in prestigious art galleries and coveted by collectors--he has become a presence in the world of art. Rarely does a book capture the interest of such a diversity of readers: the connoisseur of art, the lover of human drama at its most poignant, the caregiver of children with special needs, and all who delight in the uplifting story of a person prevailing against incredible obstacles.

Storyteller: A Life of Erskine Caldwell

This book is a full portrait of a complicated personality. Caldwell's unpredictability, harsh mood swings, and extramarital affairs are paralleled with instances of warmth, gentleness and generosity. A shy man bounds from a canvas alive with controversy. This book also is an attempt to better understand an American storyteller.

William Faulkner once ranked Erskine Caldwell among America's five most promising novelists. Thomas Wolfe was given the lead, followed by Faulkner, John Dos Passos, Caldwell and Ernest Hemingway. His reputation soared from 1934 to 1944 and then nose-dived. By the end of World War II, critics shunned him, though he had a huge following for several more years.

Inexpensive editions of Caldwell's books on circular "Spin It" racks in drugstores and corner groceries became a distribution sensation. His paperback publisher, New American Library, proclaimed him to be "The World's Best-Selling Author!" It was more than a buzzword gathering to decorate eye-teasing jackets—only the Bible was ahead in sales. His books have sold 80 million copies in forty-three languages, and in spite of numbers, Erskine Caldwell is a forgotten American writer.

There were 25 novels, 150 short stories, 12 nonfiction collections, and even 2 books for young readers. The novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre endured (they sometimes can be found in bookstores), and many of Caldwell's short stories were consummate achievements.

'Storyteller' offers new view of Caldwell

"If Erskine Caldwell were alive and writing a novel about himself, the result would be much like 'Storyteller:A Life of Erskine Caldwell,' a new biography by C. J. Stevens."-- W. Winston Skinner, Director of the Erskine Caldwell Birthplace Museum - THE TIMES HERALD OF NEWNAN GEORGIA

TWO ABOUT D.H. LAWRENCE IN CORNWALL The Cornish Nightmare (D.H. Lawrence in Cornwall)

How people saw Lawrence depended on where they stood on the social or intellectual level. A chameleon in reverse, taking on the opposite coloring of his environment, he stands out starkly in the many books written by articulate friends.

Now we hear a new voice. Naturally eloquent and with tactile recall, one of Lawrence's own characters speaks to us. Stanley Hocking, the farm boy in "The Nightmare" chapter of Lawrence's novel Kangaroo vividly describes that crucial time in Cornwall from March 1916 to October 1917 when Lawrence was reconsidering many of his inner values and external relationships. His marriage was in trouble, he felt tormented by the mass patriotism around him, and he was uncertain of his sexual preferences as he wandered ever closer to a culmination with the handsome young farmer, William Henry Hocking.

The book merges Stanley Hocking's remembrance of physical events with Lawrence's need to recall emotional events: the desire to find the past in the present was always strong in him. Lawrence delights in blending with the spirited Cornish farm family -- reliving his beginnings in the Midlands. His feelings run parallel to that time. So do the reactions of the women who love him: his mother then; his wife, Frieda, now.

Were the couple's famous fights caused by a struggle for dominance, class difference, or a mutual need for emotional upheaval? The farm people see a different Frieda than do Lawrence's intellectual friends. "She's more of a lady than he is." was an innocently astute remark from one of Stanley's sisters.

But the world intrudes. Submarines sink British ships, some in view of Lawrence's cottage, and people begin to talk. This strange, bearded man with his German, red-stockinged wife and his immoral, unpatriotic books was surely betraying his country. Now, added to the couple's hatred of the war, come suspicion and surveillance, and finally, shockingly, expulsion.

Lawrence at Tregerthen

Lawrence at Tregerthen unveils the third face of D. H. Lawrence. Not the one his complicated literary friends sketched, nor the self- pursued image of his own fiction. This is a day-to-day Lawrence seen fondly, sometimes critically, and with some amusement, by the people with whom he felt at ease -- his Cornish farm friends.

Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, delighted in the somber beauty of the Cornish coast and their cottage by the sea. But this was for him a time of violent self-appraisal.

The love between him and Frieda was a constantly shifting vehemence that left little emotional foothold. Simultaneously, he was involved in a lacerating, ritualistic and ambiguous intimacy with the handsome Cornish farmer, William Henry Hocking.

The time was World War I. Just beyond the unsettled cottage, German U-boats were torpedoing English ships, and suspicions of treason began to pursue this bearded oddity and his German wife.

C.J. Stevens tells with palpable clarity of this most critical and extraordinary time in D. H. Lawrence's life --from March 1916 to October 1917.

GOLD, GEMS, and MINERALS by C.J. Stevens

NEW! Memoirs Of A Maine Gold Hunter

C. J. Stevens and his wife, Stella, began panning for gold on the Swift River in Oxford County in 1978, and this would lead to a host of other treasure-related explorations in Maine. They collected minerals, stalked Revolutionary War artifacts along the Arnold Trail and metal detected for a variety of caches. Each search was sparked by the thrill of anticipation.

As they explored a new world they became more proficient in finding gold and gems. This changed both their lives. Stella quit her office job, and they used their findings to launch a profitable craft business called "Maine Gold." C. J. became intrigued by the diversity and ingenuity of the personalities committed to treasure hunting. Three of his books, The Next Bend in the River, Maine Mining Adventures, and The Buried Treasure of Maine, have been acclaimed classics by gold, mineral, and metal detecting enthusaists. These memoirs promise a captivating experience.

THE NEXT BEND IN THE RIVER -- GOLD MINING IN MAINE

Maine seems such an unlikely place for a gold rush, but in the late eighteen hundreds ledges were blasted and back pastures excavated. Mining stocks were sold as quickly as they could be printed , and the hope of` another Sutter's Mill brought speculators rushing into the state from all over the country.

The Next Bend in the River tells the story of this mining boom and bust, along with the colorful hoaxes and their flamboyant creators. The book also has portraits of Maine's leading gold hunters, among them Perley Whitney, Carl Shilling, and Sidney Harden. A look at the table of contents and the reader discovers a lode of material that is rich and varied.

For those who enjoy adventure and who want to know more about prospecting, the author relates some of the remarkable experiences he and his wife have had on the many Maine rivers where they have found gold.

There are simple and easy to follow instructions on how to pan and sluice, tips on dredging and dowsing, and a list of the better streams and locations in Maine where gold can be traced. The material is illustrated with a selection of old and rare photographs.

Three interviews with experienced prospectors are included, and the controversy over a mother lode in Maine is approached from different points of view.

Best are the people one meets in this book; some are strong- willed eccentrics, others are gentler souls, but all are caught in the spell-- that enchantment -- the search for gold.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR THE PERSON WHO LOVES THE OUTDOORS "Stevens captures the drama with a polished and perceptive writing style. The result is a window in the world of mining in Maine." -- Douglas Watts, MAINE TIMES

MAINE MINING ADVENTURES

C. J. Stevens, who introduced gold mining to so many with his book, The Next Bend In The River, now presents an even wider range of action with a background of rivers, mountains, and beaches of Maine. It is the world of minerals and metals.

This book brings to the reader a glittering array of personalities; mineral collectors, eager prospectors, and talented artisans -- each following a personal vision and quest.

A mother lode of tourmaline on a mountain in Newry, a billion dollar discovery of copper and zinc in Aroostook County, and mammoth pockets of amethyst in Stow are only a few of these Maine Mining Adventures. For the beginner, there are easy to follow instructions in the chapters on how and where to find minerals and gold. Many locations are listed, and seasoned miners share their experiences as they generously give advice and guidance.

"Seldom can a mineral collector find a book about the people who make mineral discoveries. Usually all that is available are fairly dry, reconstructed histories of mineral finds. Here, then is a rare book... I recommend this book to all collectors of Maine minerals, especially those who don't live in the state. It presents a wonderful opportunity to get to know the collectors." -- Mark Jacobson, ROCKS & MINERALS

We cannot know what is under our feet as we skip or limp our way to a river or quarry.
Not knowing what we will find gives an edge to life. The privilege of being the first human to have seen a crystal or piece of gold is a reward far greater than the value of the find. It doesn't get better than this, and there is something out there for all of us. Perhaps Maine Mining Adventures will open a path for you.

Buried Treasures by C. J. Stevens

The Buried Treasures of Maine

beckons to the adventurer in each of us. To the single-minded searcher for coins, minerals, artifacts, gold, pirate treasures, or bottles; to the wistfully curious person who murmurs: I wonder, is there something in this for me?
Stevens, who has been called the Pied Piper of treasure hunters, has brought countless individuals and families to that moment of glory when the first flake of gold glows in the gold pan, or that rainbow chip of a mineral quivers between thumb and finger.
This book further develops, instructively and irresistibly, the gold and gem scenes. It tells of dramatic new mineral discoveries, and it coaxes from imaginative gold panners their tactics and hunting grounds.
And now the canvas has been enlarged to include a tantalizing array of other pursuits. Tugging at the leash of that fantastic electronic bloodhound, the metal detector, we find inventive people with new techniques, tips and visions. A few dive underwater, some stalk their prey-like Sherlock Holmes- with the powers of perception, and others just happily follow their hunches.
We delve into the past with passionate and dedicated people as they gently lift from the ground an Indian arrowhead untouched by hands for thousands of years. We learn where to search, what to do, what not to do.
We find snippets of history coming alive along the Arnold Trail, and we search for those many-colored artistic frailties that the uninitiated call "old bottles."
The people we meet are also treasures: in their individualism, inventiveness and generosity as they share their secrets with us. Yes, there is something in it for you. If you are a novice, your steps will be guided on each of the many intriguing paths you can choose. For the fierce veteran of the search there are new and ingenious ideas, hitherto unthoughtof treasure-hunting combinations -- a wonderfully stretched horizon.

Anything can happen!

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The Supernatural by C. J. Stevens

The Supernatural Side of Maine

Guardian angels,
hauntings,
Bigfoot sightings,
witchcraft,
poltergeists,
ESP,
alien abductions,
UFO's,
out-of- body experience,
psychics,
dowsing
and exorcism
- these are only a few of the intriguing adventures covered in this book.

Mainers from Kittery to Fort Kent have stepped forward to reveal their encounters - many of them incredible and some frightening.

Readers will find this book the trip of a lifetime as bizarre incidents leap to the foreground and the pages gallop out of sight.
Here is a world where participants are instantly challenged to make sense out of what seems real, or what may be remnants from the glow of storytelling - you decide .

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ONE DAY WITH A GOAT HERD by C.J. Stevens

Have you ever really known a goat? Have you looked into the quizzical sparkle of its eyes; understood the trust or alarm in the angle of an ear? Have you tried to approach when its smooth lined body stiffens, ready to flee?

Whether your answer is yes or no, come with C.J. Stevens now.

Let us follow this small herd of intelligent, humorous, sometimes mischievous creatures -- real characters, every one. This we promise you: after our journey the word "goat" will have a very special meaning for you.

An extraordinary introduction to goats. A book for all animal lovers. The perfect gift for future farmers, 4H'ers, pioneers.

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